Is my team right that collecting data is extra work?
Your team may be partly right that collecting data is extra work, because plans for collecting information tend to grow over time and every addition creates work for someone. It's easy to add another survey, another measure, another group to ask, or another round of follow-up, and each addition takes time from staff and from participants. Information collected for a report that no one on the team ever sees can feel like extra work even when someone outside the team does use it.
Some of what feels like extra work may also come from how information is collected rather than what is collected. For example, staff may be entering the same details into two different systems, or completing a form at a point in the day when they're also trying to serve participants. Those problems are worth fixing on their own, and investigating your team's concern before asking them to collect more carefully demonstrates that the organization values their time.
How do I decide what data we can stop collecting?
To decide what data you can stop collecting, review each item your team collects and determine whether it is required, whether it is used, and what it would cost to drop it.
Reviewing what your team collects
| What you find | What to do |
|---|
| A funder or grant agreement requires it | Keep it, explain to staff why it's required, and look for a more efficient way to collect it. |
| It isn't required, but it helps the team understand or improve the program | Keep it, and make sure staff see how it's used. |
| It answers a question no one is asking anymore | Stop collecting it, or revise it to answer a question that matters now. |
| No one can say who uses it or why | Find out before deciding. If no one uses it, stop collecting it. |
Before you drop anything that was built into a grant's evaluation plan, check with your evaluator. Some items answer evaluation questions that aren't visible to the staff who collect them, and an evaluator can identify which items can be removed, combined, or collected less often without weakening the evaluation. Do we need new surveys, or can we use what we already collect? looks at how to get more from the information you already have.
How do I show my team that the information they collect is used?
You can show your team that the information they collect is used by sharing what it showed, discussing what it means together, and telling them what changed because of it. When staff never hear about the information after they submit it, collecting it can feel like a task performed for someone else.
Build that conversation into meetings your team already holds. Share a few results that relate to their work, ask what they think the results mean, and agree on what to try or change. When the information goes into a funder report, tell staff what it contributed and, if the funder responded, what it said. When something they collect leads to a change in the program, name the change and connect it to the information that informed it. Share uncomfortable results too, since a result showing that something isn't working gives the team an opportunity to improve the program.
How can my staff help shape what we collect?
Your staff can help shape what you collect by telling you where collecting information gets in the way of their work and suggesting how it could fit better. The people closest to the work often know things that the information alone can't tell you, including which questions confuse participants, which forms duplicate one another, and when in the day or the program year collecting information is least disruptive.
Ask them directly, and act on their suggestions where you can. Where something can't change, because a funder requires it or an evaluation depends on it, explain the reason, since staff who understand a requirement are more likely to collect information carefully. If your team will also be involved in an outside evaluation, How much work will an evaluation create for my staff? explains what to expect and what to ask before you agree to a scope of work.
The Grantibly perspective
Angelika's perspective
More data isn't necessarily better data. It's easy for a plan to grow, one survey or one measure at a time, and every additional measure creates work for participants, for staff, and for evaluators.
Instead of asking what they have to collect, we want organizations to ask what information would actually help them improve their work. When that question guides what a team collects, what it does collect has a purpose that staff can see.
We want evaluation and data to support the work without overwhelming the people doing it, and respecting your staff's time is part of using data well.
